Ramblings of a Book Lunatic: Finding Joy by Jenni Moen with Giveaway, Excerpt & Review

Friday, December 20, 2013

Finding Joy by Jenni Moen with Giveaway, Excerpt & Review

Love is patient.
It can happen when you least expect it, where you least expect it, with whom you least expect it.
Love is kind.
But love may not grow out of kindness.
It can happen with the person who hates you most because love knows no bounds.
And it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love doesn’t hold a grudge.
Love forgives.
Love forgets.
But when the healing of your heart breaks the hearts of the ones you love … it may seem impossible to Find joy.

Excerpt:

I looked over at Adam, who was no stranger to love and hate, and wondered if he still had any trouble distinguishing between the two. Long before he had loved me, he’d hated me. Who could blame him? Even though he swore that he no longer harbored any of those old feelings, I couldn’t help but wonder if it ever nagged at him the way my regrets nagged at me.

He must have felt my eyes on him. He turned and looked at me thoughtfully. He shook his head ever so slightly before returning his gaze to the stage. ‘Don’t think too much about it,’ he would say if he knew what I was thinking.

I would try.

Dirk, Barnacle, and Brian were already tearing things down on the stage. Adam started in their direction and then turned back to me. He cleared the space he’d just put between us in three steps and stopped just inches from me. His eyes flashed dark. “You wonder when it’s going to get easier for us, but it’s not easy for anybody, Allie. Everyone has their shit. It’s different shit for different people, but it’s still all shit. Being able to deal with it ... that’s where greatness lies. And we’re great.”

He was right. I wanted easy, but there was no easy. I wanted greatness, but all my doubts and insecurities were holding us back.

“We are great,” I said to his retreating back.

It was time to stop dwelling on the past … and make us greater.

Jenni Moen lives in her hometown in Oklahoma with her husband and three crazy, exuberant kids that have the potential to burn the house down at any moment. When she's not chauffeuring kids around town, performing her mom duties as a short order cook and maid, or vacuuming for her fastidious husband, she hammers away at her keyboard at her big girl job as a patent attorney. While vodka and exercise have provided some relief from the daily grind, it is reading ... and now writing ... that are her true escapes.

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My Review: 5 stars

Jenni does it again. I have really enjoyed this story: these two books more than I thought I would. Because, to me, it all comes down to love. If you love someone, you do what would make them happy. Adam and Allie both deserved a lot more love than they got from their parents, but in different ways. I suppose there are all types of parents in the world, and Adam and Allie's were on opposite ends of the spectrum. One set would do whatever it took to keep their child happy, the other did nothing but take from their child and manipulate their feelings. Hell, thinking back they both did that, but at different times. Adam and Allie had to fight hard to keep their love, to overcome the past and move on toward a future that had both of them in it together. The characters kept me guessing until the end, and I really enjoyed reading this book. Jenni did a fantastic job with everything. It made me tear up, made me so sad, made me angry; all the things a truly good book should do. I'm always going to be up for anything that Jenni writes. And I'm thinking she nees to write a book for Carly and Burke. Just my opinion.